Caught in the Crossfire
by Gwynevere Whisper
Summary: A desert where Grimm aren't the only things you need to worry about and betrayal is a normal thing. After Ruby Rose's hometown of Patch is burned to ash she sets off into the unforgiving desert land of Vacuo in search for a purpose. One thing for sure though is that she'll definitely find a girl with burning eyes and an attitude. (DISCONTINUED)
1. Prologue I

AN: So this just kinda came about when I saw the minimal amount of Western stories in the RWBY fandom. This is by no means pure wild-west stuff but it is for sure going to be in that kind of setting. Anyways I hope you peeps enjoy this.

* * *

 **Shift. Click. BANG!** The sound of a rifle repeatedly firing rang through the air, the user's heavy breathing appearing after the loud sound, the cacti in the distance usually breaking into pieces as the bullet made contact with it. A shining silver bore into the scope while following the directions of the red-brunette sitting next to her, "remember Ruby, release your breath as you pull the trigger and try to be relaxed."

"Alright," she cocked the bolt back and slid it forward again, the bullet falling into place. Thankfully the wasteland weather was perfect for sniping, the hot air keeping the barrel warm and virtually no wind to speak of.

"Clear." The older woman's voice sounded out. **BANG!** The shell bounced out of the ejection chamber and landed in the sand causing a dull puff to come out. The cactus the younger girl was aiming at cracked into numerous pieces.

"Alright I think that's enough for today, Ruby." The older girl, most likely her mother, exclaimed. She stood up and packed away the binoculars she was using to spot Ruby's shots and helped the younger girl up.

"Okay Summer!" Ruby bounced up excitedly.

"Oh, and what are you so excited about. You're never this excited about leaving the cliff side, I can barely separate you from that Vacuo junk they call a rifle!" Summer smiled as she shouted the words, lightly bumping into her daughter as they started the trek back to the small town of Patch.

"Well I was thinking~ that since it was my birthday soon and in town they're holding a shooting competition that you might let me go in." Ruby activated her trump card, the kicked puppy look.

"Maybe, you know how I worry they'll take you away to combat the incoming war." Summer said, obvious worry lacing her words.

"Yeah. It's okay if I don't go, practicing with you is good enough for me!" A smile was on Ruby's face, beaming up at her mother.

They continued to walk on in silence towards the town, their outfits ruffling slightly when a breeze kicked up because of the setting Sun. Ruby was wearing something identical to Summer. A black, tightfitting, long-sleeved shirt under a thin, open-front trench coat along with blue jeans that started skinny at the waist and flared out at the ends allowing their knee-high, black combat boots to slip under. To top it all off a crimson, straight brim fedora was resting on their heads to keep the sun out of their eyes and to not burn their faces too badly.

* * *

They arrived at the desolate town of Patch around an hour after they left the cliff side where they normally trained. It wasn't too bad for a town in the middle of the never-ending wasteland, though it was kind of… run down. There was only one rode which spoke volumes about the town's size, and that rode ran straight through the middle; two wells lay to the sides of the path so that merchants can quickly stop to get a refill of water if needed.

To top off the small town and its perfections, it was _almost_ never attacked by bandits. There were cons to this as well though like the fact that there was virtually no other protection other than the townspeople and the Rose-Xiao Long family. Yes indeed, their family were basically the protectors of the town which ended up winning them a, basically, free house as long as they guarded their humble abode.

So, as you can imagine, life was pretty simple for their family. They would wake up, eat, train, come home and then ultimately spend some time together and then go to bed. Rinse. Repeat. And then you had the barebone of their life.

So, that was why when they got home Ruby and Yang got offered some Lien, a thankful invention from Atlas, to go out and eat.

"So, Rubes where do you want to go," Yang's fourteen-year-old voice half-squeaked out.

"Well, I don't really know. I'm just gonna pocket half of this and save up!" Ruby chirped out while skipping along with Yang down the street towards the diner.

"Why?"

"So that when I get older I can buy my own rifle and then get better than Momma!" Ruby exclaimed, stopping in her tracks to strike the classic superhero pose, her hands on her hips and her chin high along with her silver eyes shimmering with excitement.

"That's actually a really good idea, nice one Rubes!" Yang exclaimed while shoving half of the Lien coins into her pocket. "We should still have enough to get a meal though, we can share."

"Okay~." Ruby carried it out with a dopey smile glowing just as brightly as her eyes.

They walked to the diner and entered it, a small stench of alcohol lingering in the air from the early drinkers. It was a nice place, blinds made from practically scorched leaves covered the dusty windows and the wood was painted a mahogany. Red dust lights hung from the ceiling causing a wavy maroon to wash over the place along with its warmth, it was soothing.

They ordered some meat stew and ate their meal in silence until Ruby broke it, "Summer might let me go into the competition that's coming up!" Ruby whisper-shouted, her legs kicking back and forth lazily, she didn't want anybody to overhear after all.

"You and your rifles, take too long to me." Yang grumbled out, her eyes betraying the happiness she was actually feeling for her sister. At a young age, Summer and Taiyang had started training the two in preparation for 'the real world' as they called it, they said, "we won't always be around to protect you girls, so I want you two to be able to protect yourselves when the time comes."

Their words really hadn't dawned on Yang until she was about twelve years old. A lone-wolf bandit had rolled up into Patch and shot up the bar, luckily only one person was killed in the accident but it still switched something in Yang. She wanted to be able to protect her sister at all costs. So, she got to training with machine and shotguns with Taiyang, luckily, he was versed well enough to teach her the basics and let her be on her way with them. She would leave the more accurate guns like pistols and rifles to Ruby, along with the intelligence parts.

A couple weeks after Ruby's twelfth birthday Summer had offered Ruby the chance to start her training. It started off with the more knowledgeable bits of guns, like which were which and which ones were actually good. Guns were made by every major city in Remnant, so their quality was placed in them.

The lowest quality were Vacuo's, the bare bone. They were generally made from scrap metal and you could buy one by taking a simple job from the job board. They were generally used by Bandits for their higher firing rates but lower accuracy.

The second qualities were tied, Vale and Mistral. They were exceptionally better than Vacuo's 'boom sticks'. Though they branched off at what they excelled in. Vale excelled in power while Mistral went more for accuracy, by no means were they bad in each of the opposite categories it was just one side was better.

And then there was Atlas. These were the true beauties in Ruby's eyes, even though she's only seen one it still awed her that such a masterpiece existed. Atlas was good in all of the categories. With records set in power, accuracy, firing rate, and dust usage they were what people _really_ wanted.

After Summer had taught her daughter all that there was to know about Remnant's weapon quality, it had taken about six months, she had stated to train Ruby in pistols. She had taken to it right away. Maybe it was because of how hands-on it was but Ruby was _good_ at it, the mother had a feeling that Ruby'd be even better than she was but of course it'd take time.

So, Ruby took after gunslinging very quickly and rather well. After pistol shooting came physical development, by now Ruby was about 13 and ready to start the more difficult workouts. They would run for what seemed like hours, which it was, and then they'd do various exercises to strengthen her muscles and endurance, this only took a few months to build up so they quickly went to marksmanship.

Ruby took after this even better than handguns, she was an absolute _natural_ , Summer was even a bit jealous to be honest, and now here they were.

 _But there was nothing that they could've done to prepare them for the obstacle ahead…_

* * *

The two quickly finished their meal and left the diner, trying to return to their parents before they got too worried. The moon was beginning to rise and it was at the darkest point of the night.

"Ah~, I'm stuffed." Yang contentedly sighed out, mist billowing out in front of her at the growing cold of the desert.

"Yeah," Ruby halfheartedly replied, staring out at the moon, her eyes reflecting its color. Suddenly an extra light appeared out on the horizon, a few extra lights actually… quickly moving closer to the small town. Sudden realization dawned on Ruby, the weight of it practically crushing, "Yang…"

"Yeah, Rubes?" A smile was on Yang's face as she turned to Rudy, it disappearing as she saw the look on her sister's face.

"Bandits!" She shouted out, pointing out towards the lights that were getting closer. They were just far enough away to make out their silhouettes, Vacuo class Humvees. Said bandits quickly rolled into town, sand flying up from behind them and their boots kicking up more as they jumped out of the vehicles.

"We have to warn mom and dad!" Yang shouted while pulling Ruby into a nearby alleyway by her arm. They sprinted to the edge of town and started to follow its border, hauling ass around the edge towards their small house which was inconveniently on the other side of town.

The girls continued to run around the town, when they got about halfway to their destination a bandit popped out of a nearby alleyway with a gleaming knife in his hand, "hey, little girls. I don't want to hurt you… just… stand still okay?" It sounded like the idiot was questioning what he was saying, oh yeah, did I mention that bandits are absolutely _stupid?_

The man jumped forwards, bringing the knife he was holding down onto the duo; they barely managed to hop backwards. Yang twisted her sister around and started to run in the opposite direction of the bandit. Their legs carried them across the border yet again, now running away from their previous destination.

Another bandit popped out of an alleyway in front of them and brought his pistol up, a bullet flying out as the older sister dived out of the way, bringing her sister with her. By now fires were starting to burst up and sweat was pouring down the girl's faces, their hair drenched because of it; the night was no longer cold but instead a burning heat that rivaled the midday Vacuo weather that they endured constantly.

They heard a shout from behind and whirled around to see the earlier airhead, now deemed twiddle-dee, was charging towards them, an angry look in his eyes as blood poured out of a new wound in his shoulder. 'Did we manage to do that?' Yang questioned inside, almost no time to think because the second person, twiddle-dumbass, was already raising his pistol for another shot.

She had to make a split-second decision; time seemed to slow as she evaluated the ways to go. She could both keep her sister with her and risk her getting shot or she could push her into the alleyway next to them and keep twiddle-dee and twiddle-dumbass busy.

Decision made she gripped Ruby by the shoulders and pushed her between the buildings, immediately going back to eyeing the two.

Yang dove to the side yet again to dodge the bullet bursting from the pistol's barrel, it whizzed past her and it hit its mark, right in-between the eyes of twiddle-dee. He slumped to the ground and one thought was left in Yang's head, 'how can I kil-, get around him to reach Ruby?'

* * *

Ruby sprinted out onto the other side of the alleyway and took a look around; since she was already out in the open might as well make a run for Summer and Taiyang.

Her legs carried the girl forwards only to be stopped a few seconds later by the sight before her; their house was burning down. Ruby's legs were working overtime to reach the place they had lived their whole lives, forgetting all about the danger surrounding her. Rule #1 of being a sniper: always know what's around you.

A hand reached out and wrapped around the back of the crimsonette's neck, throwing her into yet another alleyway, _'I swear I've been in more of them tonight than I've been in my whole life.'_

Her mind was running faster than ever before, it was all happening so fast. First, her and Yang were just eating a peaceful dinner and now she was suddenly in a dark alleyway being pinned to the wall by her neck, her face rubbing up against the sandy stone.

Ruby kicked her legs back and forth while pushing against the wall with her hands, desperately trying to hit the person pinning her against the wall. She must've managed to land a hit because the bandit's hand loosed and they stumbled back. Ruby fell to the ground in a wheezing heap, the shock of everything slowly overwhelming her.

"Little bitch…" the voice behind her muttered, unmistakably male. She whirled around to see a hateful look in his eyes, his hand lowered to a sword, surprisingly Atlas grade material. It had a black blade and handle with a red cross guard, the guard was shaped like a pair of dragon wings and the head curled up part of one side of the blade while the tail ran parallel to the handle and guard, going down the handle only to stop without connecting to the pommel **(1)**. "I'll make sure this one is slow…"

He dashed forward and lunged with the blade only to be met with air as Ruby dodged out of the way, the sword impaling the wall and getting stuck. He tugged and eventually gave up as the girl shivered behind him, being overwhelmed by the adrenaline coursing through her.

What happened next was a blur. Her eyes shone just a bit brighter and she dashed forwards, pulling the beautiful sword out of the wall and slicing out at the bandit, hit throat slicing open and blood pouring out… and then her eyes returned to normal. A choked sob followed the kill after she realized what she had done. Tears ran down the crimsonette's face as she suppressed the urge to wail out, she didn't want to alert anybody nearby. She collapsed onto her knees, staining her pants crimson and clutched the sword to her chest, almost as if the action alone would bring the person back. It didn't.

* * *

Yang rushed into the dark enclosure, stopping at the sight before her lavender eyes. Her little sister, Ruby Rose, was _covered_ in blood. From head to toe a dark and thick red was covering her, soaking into her clothes and staining the porcelain skin underneath. Seeping even further than that, it was staining her mentality.

All her life she had been taught to never take a life, she had no idea what had come over her at that moment. It's like she felt the need to. Many questions plagued her mind. Was that her survival instincts kicking into gear? I mean she _needed_ to kill him to survive, right? Or maybe the worst of all the questions, had she _wanted_ to _murder_ the man. That's what she was now, a murderer.

Her tears got swallowed by the crimson as they dropped off of her face, her silver eyes shining from the salty water before that bright color got swallowed by a stormy grey. Lifeless. The crimson that she saw turned dull and the colors around her dimmed.

The absolete _nothingness_ almost consumed her before a bright yellow appeared in her vision, dispelling the darkness consuming her; the sun in her night, the brightness in her darkness. She practically fell in love at the sight of it. She dropped the sword that she was hugging to her chest and proceeded to cling to her new lifeline.

"Shhh~ Ruby, it's all gonna be alright. Your big sis is here now!" Yang's soothing voice echoed out of the mass of yellow, the light in Ruby's eyes shattered. Half-dulling out yet again, how could she be so stupid?! To manage to fall in _love_ with your _sister!_

"I-I-I... k-k-ill-ed… him-m Y-Yan-g!" She wailed out, newfound tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It's alright Ruby, you _needed_ to ki-... do that to survive," She soothed her younger sister, her voice hardened slightly, "We need to go get mom and dad, they might be in danger."

"Yeah…" the crimsonette muttered out, standing up and let herself get pulled out of the alleyway. She almost broke for a third time at what she saw.

The bodies of the people she had known all of her life were strewn across the ground, the crimson that she was getting used to seeping onto the cracked dirt that they called a street. What broke her more was the sight of Summer and Taiyang on their knees with a gun to the back of their heads, they were facing right at them.

With a subtle nod and a mouthing of three consecutive words, the gunshots rang and Ruby broke, for hopefully the last time. She didn't think she could handle any more of this. Yang drug her back into the alleyway and muttered the words that made Ruby know everything was truly gone, except for Yang of course, "we'll lay low here and wait for them to leave. Once they do we can pillage what we can and head out."

"What'll we do when we leave, we have nowhere to go and nowhere to live, _nobody_ left?" Ruby pleaded, she needed something to ground to, a destination.

Yang almost said 'I don't know' before she looked into the eyes of her pleading sister, the absolute _need_ she was showing made Yang change her mind. "We'll wander around Vacuo, doing jobs to pay for our food and water. We'll do whatever you want." Yang smiled down at her sister, lighting up the girl's world. The crimsonette sadly nodded before curling her arms around her sister and tucking her face into the blonde's neck…

 _...waiting for the inevitable pillaging of her own house and her own people._

* * *

AN: So yeah that was this part of the prologue, kinda depressing, I guess. It was originally going to be about 6-8k words and would get to a very particular point before I ended the chapter but I wanted to get something out to you guys before the end of the weekend, which is today unfortunately. I've had a lot of ideas flowing through my mind and I think I'm just going to be experimenting with what people like right now, sorry to everyone that really liked my currently running series(es?). But yeah I'll probably be coming out with a prologue to another story next weekend and occasionally updating Love Like Starlight while I see what everyone wants the most.

See y'all when I see y'all!

 **1) Kind of like Winter's sword.**


	2. Status Update

I honestly do feel a little bad having to type this out. Just a little. You can probably guess right now by the title of this "chapter" which is actually a status update. Mostly all of my stories are going on hiatus. Which means they're dead. Well… they might have a small heartbeat, the tiniest so that if I were ever to think about returning to it… then it'd be there.

But yes, as of now, all currently listed stories before this update are now discontinued/dead. I say "before this update" because not only is there something I'm working on with someone else but there's also an idea I'm going to take care of a lot better than I did with these. I guess I should tell you why now though, you can just skip this part if you want. Also, none of my stories will be up for adoption right now, so please don't ask...

For one: I've lost a lot of my writing motivation. It seems that when I started about a year ago, I was so full of energy and ideas that I just couldn't stop writing… but evidently that "spark" needs to be rekindled.

For two: I've had little to no time to write lately, and if I have had time to write, I have to be writing for school. But it's the final semester until summer (I have roughly 30 days 'till summer) so I should have a lot more time soon.

For three: I can't seem to take any of my ideas anywhere. I can get a good start, maybe a few chapters, but after that I just can't get anything done or out; which is very infuriating.

For four: I've been thinking about a lot more original work lately, and I've gotten a good idea started with someone else (not the same story or person talked about earlier). But I still don't think I'm ready to pursue an original work, I'm far too out of practice and I'm but a small cub as a writer. I know pretty much nothing. So expect me to stay near fanfiction for a little practice for a bit.

For five: I mainly write OC's, and I know that isn't exactly welcomed in. And, if anything, I'm an honest person. I like to see the view count rise up and I like the follows/ favourites/reviews, it's very heartwarming to see them. Yes, they don't mean everything to me, but they surely mean a lot. So my secondary goal in fanfiction is to try and show people that an OC doesn't have to be some flat character that is extremely over-powered or is just interested in girls/guys. I want to show people that original characters, if done properly and with care, can become truly a part of a story. Thus the new idea I've been thinking about recently (which don't expect to be out anytime soon).

So those are kind of the main reasons about this update. I'm sorry that if anyone really liked my stories, or were invested in them, that you have to be reading this. But in the shortly distant future I hope you'll still be here to read something that I think will take me, and you, places unbelievable.

I wish you a good day and I tip my hat to anyone that stayed with me this long, and I hope you stay longer. Fly you high, run like the river, live your life with luck and prosperity on your side.

See ya… hopefully soon...

-Reaper


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